Printing in two-dimensions and in three-dimensions has evolved tremendously in the past thirty years or so. Three-dimensional printers in particular recently have seen a dramatic increase in usage and a dramatic decrease in prices related to printing, thus allowing the printing of three-dimensional objects to be a more available form of printing for the general public. While a person can more easily print three-dimensional objects, the ability to print onto the surface of an already existing three-dimensional object continues to be a form of printing that has not improved nearly as dramatically. This is particularly the case when trying to print an image onto a large surface of a three-dimensional object.
The limitations of existing techniques for printing onto surfaces of three-dimensional objects are many. Besides it being difficult to print onto objects having any significant size, existing systems, devices, and methods are slow, inefficient, and impractical for daily use. Further, even when using existing slow, inefficient printing systems, they are limited in the types of surfaces onto which they can print. Many systems are limited to only printing on surfaces like a sphere, and not on surfaces that have multiple radii of curvature and/or surfaces having arbitrary curves across a surface area with any quality and speed. To the extent any of the existing techniques involve projecting an image onto a surface of a three-dimensional object, the focus of the image for an area of a surface of any significance is typically poor. Despite the versatility and scalability of modern photolithography, these techniques typically require a fixed mask, which makes the cost high for producing new patterns and cannot be adapted to change shape and size based on the local pattern desired in three-dimensional lithography. Still further, the types of surfaces of a three-dimensional object onto which can be printed using existing systems, devices, and methods are limited.
Accordingly, it is desirable for systems, devices, and methods for printing on surfaces of three-dimensional objects be faster, cover large areas, be of a much higher quality, and allow for the ability to print on surfaces having multiple radii of curvature (i.e., surfaces that include a non-planar curvature), including surfaces having arbitrary or non-uniform curves across a surface area, with speed and precision. It is also desirable for such systems, devices, and methods allow for the printing on surfaces of three-dimensional objects made of a wide variety of materials.